U11 Cobham A Festival 041009

An outstanding start to the season saw the A squad win the Cobham festival in style scoring 9 tries and conceding none.

This was a mature performance with every squad member rising to the challenge and making a contribution to the win.

The pool games started with a tough game against Battersea Ironsides who we have come to know as a strong and passionate opposition. Two excellent tries, the first, on his debut, scored by Henry Paremain, won us our first festival game of the season. The other pool game against Camberley was a little easier and we were in the semi finals. It was somewhat of a surprise that Chobham beat our old adversaries, Brighton in the other pool and this meant we faced Brighton in the semis. In this game, Josh Smart, returning to the A squad, scored an excellent try in the corner. We were expecting to meet Chobham in the final, but they were beaten by Battersea Ironsides and thus we were to face the latter again in the final.

A brave and powerful performance won us our first festival of the season.
Cameron Zaltsman kicked superbly, both out of hand following penalties and converting 8 of the nine tries. Gareth O’Brien was also playing his debut for CRFC and slotted into the scrum half position extremely well; his performance in the first half of the final was especially strong.

We welcomed Adam Lee to the A squad for the first time. Adam put in a very solid performance gaining significant ground with ball in hand and putting in increasingly effective tackles as the day progressed.
 
The key to the team’s success was simple; the boys tackling, rucking, scrum and line out play were such that the opposition had limited amount of possession. A rough estimate is that we retained possession 70 – 75% of the time in each game.

The discipline of retaining ball in hand rather than kicking it away was also creditable. Overall this was a performance to be proud of; the commitment, passion and bravery was impressive and provided an excellent start to our season and a strong platform to build on for future festivals.
 
Pool Games:
Battersea Ironsides      W         12 – 0   Tries scored by:            Henry P, Rory
Camberley                    W          21 – 0                                       Will, Harry, Matt
 
Semi Finals:
Brighton                        W         14 – 0                                       Harry, Josh
 
Final:
Battersea Ironsides      W         14 – 0                                       Charlie, Jamie